Library Lovers
by LuPonexGilmore
Summary: Rory/Jess oneshot. Just as the title says. ;


**Author's Note:**

It should be noted I actually DO write fanfiction about things other than Gilmore Girls. I just need to get them all done and on here! XD Anyway, Gilmore Girls and its characters do not belong to me - Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB stole them. Well, not really, since they had them from the beginning. Read, review, and hopefully enjoy. Not my best, but I wanted to write it.

Library Lovers

Lorelai loved her daughter unconditionally.

But sometimes, strange was the only word she could used to describe the seventeen-year-old Rory. The perfect example of those moments was that Saturday afternoon.

"So, I was thinking we could watch Grease today." "You're in a musical mood, huh?"

"No, I'm going through our DVDs in the G section. Today it'll be Grease, next Saturday it'll be Grey Gardens."

"Again?" "How can you not love the Edies?" "Oh, I love the Edies – I'm just trying to count how many times we've watched that documentary."

"The classic mother-daughter tale!" "I thought that was Joan and Melissa."

"I'm conflicted."

"As much as I would love to hear you do karaoke to 'Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee' and 'You're the One That I Want' for the millionth time, I have to go to the library."

Lorelai's face dropped. "I'm confused. You're going to the _library_?"

"Yeah, what's there to be confused about?" "It's the library. The place with books that you require a brain to sit in." "That would be correct. Glad you know the difference between the library and the mall."

"It's… it's Saturday. Why on Earth would you pass up a 1950s in the 1970s musical with ME for the library? I think I'm insulted and disgusted at the same time. Did I go wrong somewhere with you?"

"I haven't been there in a while!" Rory pleaded with her blue eyes.

"A while as in four days?"

"Goodbye, Mom." "YOU REBELLIOUS PUNK!" Lorelai jokingly screamed in an elderly manner as Rory got into the car, rolling her eyes.

Sure, Rory loved books. Loved was an understatement.

But her honest reason for escaping to the library was Jess Mariano. They were polar opposites if you looked at it from a random Stars Hollow citizen's point of view.

Rory knew better. Jess was considerate, charming and intelligent.

He didn't have the best upbringing, and put a mask over his real personality.

Every moment Rory spent with him was… just genuine. It felt so real and natural, and Rory was immediately guilt-stricken every time she felt this tingle go up her spine.

Dean… it was Dean she loved, right? Jess was just… what was Jess?

The slight wind brushed against Rory's face and blew against her hair gently.

Jess was waiting, his nose deep in a novel.

He was leaning against a tree outside the library. Her knees were wobbly – like usual - as she approached him.

"Hi." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Hey." Jess said nonchalantly, nodding his head as a hello. "What do you got there?" Rory peeked curiously.

"Oh, nothing that would interest you." "How can you claim that when I don't know what it is?" "Because I know everything about you and just… no."

"Oh, when did you become God? Or my mother. Let me see!" She snatched the book.

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn?!" Rory began to laugh. Jess stood there, clearly making an honorable attempt to not join in with her.

He just looked at her. She was so pretty, and her laugh was infectious. But she was also taken by the guy he liked the least in the world.

"You never struck me as a Francie Nolan type." "Yeah, yeah. Shut up, will you?"

Jess couldn't hide a small smirk, especially not from Rory Gilmore.

"Maybe we can watch the movie together one time! A real tear jerker, I hope you can make it through."

"Can I tell you how much you're annoying me right now?" "Can I tell you how much I so don't believe you?" Jess smiled, and Rory did so as well, without even thinking about it.

"Let's go read." Jess said, pulling Rory by the arm in a manner that was more loving than forceful into the library.

"Come, I know the perfect section."

"Oh, do you?"

"Trap, shut, now." It was the romance section. "What are we doing in this section? I always pictured this being filled with… lonely teenagers and old ladies?"

"I…" "A man of many words." "I thought you sort of liked these books. You know, as your kind of guilty pleasure."

You're my guilty pleasure, Rory thought. Oh my God, I did not just think that.

She shook her head.

"We can stay if you want."

Both Jess and Rory received undeniable goosebumps when Rory said 'we'.

A simple word, but it meant they were together. Maybe just to go read a book, not romantically but… it was something. "Sure, then."

They stood there in silence. Rory walked up to a shelf, running her fingers against the books in a row as if it was a piano. Jess was suddenly by her side, and he gently touched her hand.

"Stop it." Rory said, calmly. She was not an assertive person. She was an easily guilty one.

"Oh." Jess said, in what Lorelai sometimes called his typical tough-guy voice.

His tough-guy voice was his mask.

"I want you to continue." He raised his hand to touch hers, but she snapped it away and cut him off.

"But that doesn't mean you should." Rory's expression was distraught and torn.

"Rory, you're confusing." "I'm confusing? Oh, yeah, sure."

Rory wasn't sure what her witty comeback would be to whatever he said as a response. Because she knew it was true. She was confusing him.

"Do you like me?" "Yes." "Do you like me like that?" "Oh, are we really going to go all Lizzie McGuire now? Do you like me, like me?"

Rory didn't know what to say now.

"Rory, give me the answer." "I can't." "You can't because you don't know the answer, or you don't want to say it?"

"I can't end up hurting someone." Jess lifted her chin.

"Rory, grow a backbone." "Yes, Jess. I like you! I really like you. You're funny, you're handsome, and you're so smart and… I really want to kiss you right now but I can't."

"Why can't you? Did you lose your lips? I don't see how that can be because you're still talking. Kiss me. If you really want to, you will."

"But Dean! Jess, I can't." "Yes, you can."

He pulled her face toward him and gently began to kiss her.

She didn't push him away, she gave in. Rory began to tremble, and he tightened his grip on her. He kept her from falling.

It was soft, but full of meaning. Rory couldn't comprehend any intelligent thought, and Jess didn't want her to at that moment in time.

They continued to kiss, until Jess broke away.

"I told you that you could do it." "I really, really like you, Jess."

He leaned in to kiss her. "Though I shouldn't."

Rory's voice broke. Jess could tell she wanted to cry.

She gathered her books and threw them into her messenger bag. Rory darted for the staircase, and out the door she went. Jess wanted to follow, but couldn't bring himself to do it.

He loved Rory, but if she wanted him as much as she said… she would've stayed and kissed him.

Rory jumped into her mother's car and put her keys in the engine as she began to cry.

Why weren't things easier? She didn't love Dean in that way anymore. That was made clear the moment Jess kissed her.

She didn't want to end what they had, though – and having the risk not be worth it. She would be breaking his heart.

Though it was breaking her heart not being able to stay there with Jess, without the guilt she would always have. That was the type of person she was, and Rory hated it. She loved him.

Rory slammed the door when she got home.

"Rory?" Lorelai's concerned tone rang throughout the house when she saw her daughter dart into the bedroom, crying.

"Rory, what's wrong?" She gently touched her bag. "I love Jess." "Oh, boy." Rory cried onto her mother's shoulder – both for what she did and the fact she wanted to do it again.

"Library lovers, huh?" Lorelai asked, trying to make light of the situation. "Shut up." Rory laughed through her tears.

Jess was sitting outside the window, smirking. She loved him. Finally. "Library lovers."


End file.
